53' Feadship

I am looking at a 1952 53' (waterline) 55' Feadship built as a sportfisher, she is in disrepair and in need of restoration but appears to ahve a sound hull, cabin and engines. It is clear that she needs a complete rewire, updated fire systems and some pretty serious repair to the teak decks as well as some metal repair above the water line.

What bothers me is that the lines are clearly Feadship, the build quality is there and the builders plate reflects that she is indeed a Feadship, there seems to be no reference I can find on the forums or the internet to her having been built by Feadship in 1952.

I am flying out this weekend to see her in person but any information would be greatly appreciated.

I had already looked there but she was not listed.

I found an original magazine ad where she is listed as the "Brigand" showing that she was built for a gentleman in Conneticut named Seamon in 1952 and another ad showing a drawing of her.

The one with the drawing is also from 1952 and is part of a letter anouncing Feadships new rep in the statres as the Ziegler Boat Co. of Phiuladelphia.

Here is another image of her.

She is not as bad as I had originally thought.

And another current image.

I will do so Sir, since posting I have learned a great deal about the vessel and have posted more images at www.frybrid.com/feadship.htm

The structure of the vessel is identical to original except for the back portion of the bridge which was modified to allow it to be closed with canvas. The original Crysler Imerials were replaced with twin Detroit Diesel 671's, the compass and light are original but much of the bridge has been updated over the years (Loran, GPS, VHF, Chartplotter, etc.) The interior is as it was built witht he exception of the addition of a television which I intend to "Float test".

I have a set of original drawings which I will post on the page with the other photos. If you can find out any informationat all I would be very appreciative.

I can weld anything but a broken heart of the crack of dawn, part of why I bought a steel boat, that and the fact that it is a Feadship. The side decks have been removed (1 1/4" thick teak) and the metal cleaned, the starboard side is fine but the Port side is gone and the rust extends up the side in front of the entry door. I have the steel, a portable mig unit, plasma and all the fixings but am having difficulty getting a hot work permit. In Seattle the FD requires a permit for any hot work, to get one you need to be hauled, have the fire inspector sign off on it, then had a "Ship Yard Competent Person" inspect the site and sign off each day. The FD permit is about a bill and the ship yard competent person charges $65 a day to tell me that it is a ship and I am a welder, the worst part is that the Fire inspector, ship person and yard can not all be at the same place at the same time. The have told me to just haul out and pay $100 a day while I wait for the permit.....

Once I replace the side deck material and seal the metal in epoxy, I will reset the teak in 3M 5200 and caulk it. The plan for the fore deck is the same, pull the teak, cut out the cancer and replace it, seal in epoxy and replace the teak in 5200.

The only issue I have preventing me from using the vessel now is that both of the supply seacocks for the heads are froozen closed, I spent 4 hours on the rear one when the handle broke off in my hand and I decided to stop before becoming one of those stories you hear over dinner where everyone laughs and says that they can not believe anyone could sink a boat at the dock. When she is haules I will remove them and either replace them with pronze through-hulls or if the nipple is good, just replace the valve.

She is a beautiful vessel and even now some 55 years later, she turns heads and most people wo venture a guess, guess Feadship.

Link added to a new page on the restoration of the rear teak grates at www.frybrid.com/feadshipvarnish.htm

Text of the ad I found:

The 55-foot sport fisherman Brigand was built in the best tradition of fine Dutch workmanship by the First Association of Dutch Shipbuilders for August J. Seamon, of the Englewood and Hackensack Yacht Clubs. Sole agent of the associatiopn is Feadship, Inc., of Greenwich, Conn. Brigand has a steel hull, with decks and superstructure of teak. Beam is 13 feet 2 inches, Draft 4 feet. Twin Chrisler Royal Specials give her a cruising speed of 15 m.p.h. Equipment includes 100-watt radiotelephone, Raytheon Fathometer, direction finder, Photo Electric Pilot, Clear View Screen windshield wiper, Universal Generator, Carlisle & Finch Searchlight, Buell air horn, Constavolt battery charger, Columbian propellers, Danforth anchors,Shipmate stove,a dn Rockaway fighting chairs.

The owner, an ardent fisherman, will use Brigand off the Jersey Coast and Montauk in the summer, at Cat Cay and Bimini in the winter. Home port will be at Bay Head, N.J.

Brigand is one of the first deliveries of the larger, custom-built yachts of the American yachtsman by Feadship. Her accomadations include two double staterooms and crew quarters for two.

The CPES has no UV protectant so it must be covered with varnish or paint after application. What they tell me is that the CPES bonds with the wood on a cellular level and the varnish bonds with the CPES on a molecular level causing the varnish to last three years or better!

Sicne this stuff soaks into the wood, as long as the wood is dry anything deep in the wood would have no moisture and beat of all, no 02 and without o2 it is a little difficult to continue any biological reaction.

See this page for a comparison of CPES and other methods.

And this one for a description of it being used to repair a horn timber.

The stuff was developed by Steve Smith of Smith Co. I read an interesting discussion about this substance here in wich Steve Smith participated.

More info Here
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There is no better bilge pump than a frightened sailor with a bucket.

With all due respect sir, the vessel was delivered as Brigand and originally fitted with Twin Chrisler Royal Specials although she now had twin 671 Detroits. She was built for August J. Seamon of New Jersey. Since that time I have peiced together some of here history and know that she once had the name "Kimberly K" and was moored in the state of Oregon. The origin of the ship is backed up by the advertisement I have posted in post #3 and #13 of this thread, I believe she is Feadship #7 because she has a plaque on the bridge reading "Feadship Holland N0.7"

I aquired the vessel from Ed Rombard who has owned her since 1993 and changed her name from "Kimberly K" back to "Brigand" at that time and registered her with the US Coast Guard as such with a hailing port of Tacoma Wa. I do not know who the owner of "Buccaneer" is but if he believes he has the vessel delivered as the "Brigand" he is mistaken.

As proof I offer images of the build plate bearing N0.7, and as an interesting note, in the original ad you can see that the vessel had a custom made maidens head, wich rather than bearing the Feadship logo, was cast as a scull and cross bones, the vessel also was delivered flying the Jolly roger to match the name "Brigand" or Pirate. Here is that image from the original ad, and here is a current photo showing the same maidenhead which is a one piece, cast steel custom maidenhead. Unless Feadship made these commonly, I think it pretty well establishes the vessel as "Brigand" Feadship No.7

I am extremely honored as all here should be, having a manufacturer who is willing to take his time to post is a benefit to us all, it is also nice to see that once again Feadship is listed in the forum list of this site, for some time it was not and I found it difficult to get to the old posts here.